Display device for objects such as coins and the like



0a. 28, 1969 w. RAMBCW 3,474,897

DISPLAY DEVICE FOR OBJECTS SUCH AS COINS AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. 20, 1967 United States Patent US. Cl. 206-.84 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A display device having a base with means associated therewith for support of the display device relative to a surface and object holders for coins or the like with supporting structure for the object holders to position them at a distance from the base to provide a three-dimensional effect for the display device and the objects displayed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to display devices for displaying coins, stamps or other objects wherein the coins or the like are displayed at a distance from the base of the display unit to provide a three-dimensional effect whereby d the display device can be used as a decorative unit for a home or oflice as a wall mounting unit, on a desk, or as part of bookends or other suitable use, and also can be used commercially such as in a store selling coins or stamps for display thereof.

Applicant knows of no display units of this type. It is known to have commercial displays using pegboard with suitable brackets for support of products such as frequently found in a hardware store. However, such devices have relied on merely hooking a product or resting the product on the bracket due to weight or design characteristics of the product and are not capable of mounting coins, stamps or the like for support and display as embodied in the display unit of this invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a new and improved display unit for objects such as coins or the like, which supports the objects at a distance from the base of the unit to provide a three-dimensional effect for the display and the objects supportetd thereon.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a display unit having a base with suitable means associated therewith for support of the display unit relative to the supporting surface with object holders which grip spaced, opposed portions of the objects to firmly hold the objects, and means spacing the object holders at a distance from the base to give a three-dimensional effect to the display.

A further object of the invention is to provide a display unit in which the object holders are each defined by a cup-shaped member with a central recess for receiving the coin or the like and an upstanding surrounding flange for gripping and engaging the periphery of the coin and with a plug extending from the member for removable mounting in the base of the display unit.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a display unit wherein the coins or the like are held in spaced relation from the base of the display unit by a plurality of thin panels extending up from the base and with the exposed edges thereof having notches to provide faces at the ends of the notches forming gripping surfaces for gripping the edge of the coin and with the panels being arranged in lattice fashion to have intersecting notches providing four gripping faces for a coin or arranged in spaced parallel pairs to provide in each instance four cations of gripping engagement with portions of the periphery of the coin or coins on display.

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Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connectron with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the structure shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section on enlarged scale taken generally along the line 33 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of a second embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of a third embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will be described herein in detail an embodiment of the invention together with modifications thereof with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiments'illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

The display unit of the preferred embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 has a mounting base or panel indicated generally at 10 with structure associated therewith for displaying a number of objects in spaced relation therefrom to provide a three-dimensional effect. The object supported can be one of many different items with a primary use of the display unit being for display of coins or stamps and, as shown in the drawing, the actual display is of a group of coins C. The base 10 is shown formed of molded plastic to have a pair of sides 12 and 13, a top flange 14, and a bottom flange 15, all extending rearwardly. The side 13 and top flange 14 are each formed with means for support of the display unit from a surface, such as a wall, by integrally molded notched flanges 16 and 17, respectively. Alternatively to the notched flange, the base 10 can be provided with structure for support of the display unit on a desk top or other horizontal surface or other provisions could be made such as having the mounting base 10 of a size and weight to function as a bookend, as an example. Alternatively, the base 10 can be a planar member.

The object-holding structure in the preferred embodiment provides for support and continuous gripping around the entire periphery of the displayed objects and more particularly the coins C. The object-holding members are each formed as a cup-shapedmember 20 having a central recess in which the coin is seated, and with an upstanding surrounding flange 21 which grips the periphrey of the coin to securely hold it in relation with the holding membet and to completely cover the edge of the coin.

Means are provided to position each of the objectholding members in spaced relation from the face 11 of the mounting base comprising a two-diameter plug associated with each holding member. As shown particularly in FIG. 3, a first smaller diameter section 25 of the plug removably fits into a recess 26 formed in the mounting base. These recesses are formed by depressing a portion of the material forming the mounting base to form a receptacle 27 having the recess 26 therein. In a planar base, the recesses can be apertures therethrough. A larger diameter portion 28 of the plug fits against the face 11 of the mounting base to control the depth to which the plug can be fitted into the recess and the length of this larger diameter portion also functions as a spacer to space the cup-shaped member 20 at a distance from the face 11 to provide an appearance of the coins being siilfpported in space and contribute to a three-dimensional e ect.

An an example with the display unit constructed to display six half-dollars, the mounting panel 19 could be approximately 4 /4 x 6" and have a depth of /2" with the receptacles 27 being arranged in two rows of three and with equal spacing therebetween in a row and between rows to provide the symmetrical display apparent in FIG. 1. Contributing to the overall effect is the fact that the edges of the coins cannot be seen and, as shown in FIG. 3, the coin is slightly recessed into the mounting member with the outer edge of the flange 21 slightly beyond the face of the coin C.

It will be recognized that it is within the scope of the invention to have a mounting panel constructed differently from those shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and the mounting could be of a pegboard type and the spacing of the mounting recesses 26 could vary in the event it was desired to have different sized coins in the same display with the object-holding members then correspondingly varying in diameter to adapt to the size of the coin being held.

The gripping flange 21 of the holding member is of a size to closely engage the periphery of the coin to securely hold it in position and, therefore, if it should be desirable to change the display to use different coins of the same size provision is made for easily removing the coins from the holders. More particularly as shown in FIG. 3, each of the plugs has a central passage 30 extending therethrough for insertion of a tool, when the holding member is removed from the recess 26, to engage the coin to push it out of its holder.

A second embodiment is shown in FIG. 4 wherein the mounting base 10A is constructed of generally the same dimensions as that of FIG. 1 but omit the recess formation therein. In this embodiment, the object-holding members and the spacing means for the objects to display them at a distance from the mounting base are formed by a plurality of thin panels positioned on edge with the panels 40, 41 and 42 extending vertically as viewed in the drawing, and the panels 43 and 44 extending horizontally. One edge of each panel is in the plane of the mounting base, and the opposite upper edge is exposed. The panel is typical of panels 40 to 42, and more particularly has a pair of notches 45 and 46 spaced apart along the length thereof with notch 45 providing faces 47 and 48 and the notch 46 providing faces 49 and 50. Each pair of faces 47 and 48 provide a pair of gripping surfaces to engage opposite portions of an object to be held, such as a coin C. The panels 43 and 44 have a series of spaced notches and 56 along their respective lengths with the notch 55 providing a pair of faces 57 and 58 and the notch 56 providing a pair of faces 59 and 60- for engaging opposite portions of the periphery of an object. It will be seen that the notches of panels 43 and 44 intersect at their midpoint with the notches in the panel 40 so that for a particular object, such as coin C, there are faces 47, 48 in opposed relation, and faces 57 and 58 in opposed relation to provide for individual areas of contact with the periphery of the coin.

The arrangement of panels in the embodiment of FIG. 4 results in a lattice type arrangement of panels wherein a plurality of coins are displayed and each coin is held in and gripped by two pairs of opposed engaging faces formed by the panel notches with the coins being held in spaced relation from the mounting base 10A.

Another embodiment is shown in FIG. 5 wherein the mounting base indicated generally at 103 has a series of panels defining the object-holding members as well as means for spacing the objects from the mounting base. These panels are arranged in pairs, with three pairs being shown and indicated at 7tl-75.

The panel 70 is typical of panels 72 and 74, as well, and has a pair of notches 76 and 77 which are provided with slightly curved faces 78 and 79 associated with notch 76 and slightly curved faces 80 and 81 associated with notch 77. The panel 71 is typical of panels 73 and 75 with a pair of notches 85 and 86 in the exposed face thereof and with notch 85 providing slightly curved faces 87 and 88, and notch 86 providing slightly curved faces 89 and 90.

With the panels 70 and 71 defining a pair in spaced relation from each other but of a lesser spacing than the space between the adjacent pair of panels 72 and 73, there are provided by the faces of adjacent notches four areas of gripping engagement with the periphery of an object, such as a coin C. Since the face 7 S and 87 of the notches 76 and 85, respectively, lie on opposite sides of a line drawn centrally through a coin and thus are engaging oppositely directed curved portions of the coin periphery, these faces are correspondingly curved to closely engage the coin periphery. A similar relation exists between the faces 79 and 88 of the notches 76 and 85, respectively.

With this construction a coin is grippingly engaged by opposed gripping faces to be securely held in position while the height dimension of the panels holds the coins at a distance from the mounting base 10B to provide the three-dimensional effect.

From the foregoing it will be seen that applicant has provided a plurality of embodiments of the same invention wherein objects, such as coins, can be securely held in a display relation with a mounting panel and at a distance therefrom to provide an improved structure for display of coins or the like.

I claim:

1. A display unit for the display of objects having a continuous periphery such as coins or the like comprising, a base having means associated therewith for support relative to a surface, a plurality of object holders arranged in parallel rows extending in two directions at right angles to each other, each object holder having a recess in which the object is seated and engaging at least a plurality of spaced portions of the object periphery including two raised opposite portions to grip and hold the periphery of the objects, and means for spacing the object holders from the base to provide a threedimensional effect to the display and the objects supported thereby.

2. A display unit as defined in claim 1 wherein said base has a plurality of recesses and each of said object holders comprises a cup-shaped member with a central recess to receive an object, a flange to surroundingly grip the object, and a plug to tightly project into the base recess and of a length greater than the recess for mounting a plurality of objects to the base and spaced therefrom.

3. A display unit as defined in claim 2 wherein each of said holder plugs has a central passage therethrough opening to the central recess to permit insertion of a tool from an end of the plug to press the object out of said central recess.

4. A display unit as defined in claim 1 wherein said object holders and spacing means are defined by a plurality of thin panels extending from said base with each panel having a notch in the exposed edge thereof remote from the base to provide faces at the ends of the notch to grippingly engage said two opposite portions of the object periphery.

5. A display unit as defined in claim 4 wherein, said plurality of thin panels are arranged in lattice fashion and intersecting at the mid-point of said notches to have four of said faces positioned to engage four equally spaced portions of the object periphery.

6. A display unit as defined in claim 4 wherein said plurality of thin panels are arranged in pairs with each pair in spaced parallel relation to have four of said faces engaging portions of said object periphery, and the spacing between pairs of panels being greater than the spacing between panels of a pair.

7. A display unit for coins or the like comprising, a base having means associated therewith for support of the unit in a desired position and a plurality of coin holders for holding coins at a distance from the base and from each other to provide a symmetrical threedimensional display, said coin holders each having a cupshaped member with a central recess and a raised surrounding fiange to surround and grip the coin periphery and a two-diameter plug extending from the member, said base having a plurality of recesses for each removably receiving the smaller diameter portion of the plug and the larger diameter portion of the plug engaging said base to limit plug insertion and extending from the base to position said cup-shaped members and the coins carried thereby a distance from the base.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,014,060 1/1912 Hawkes. 2,545,320 3/1951 Tilson et al. 248-346 205,967 7/1878 Leach 206.84

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner JOHN M. CASKIE, Assistant Examiner 

